


Soft Spot

by saramcm



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2017-06-14
Packaged: 2018-11-13 22:05:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11194374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saramcm/pseuds/saramcm
Summary: On the first day, Ethan left the coffee shop a little dazed after the smile the pretty blonde flashed him. The next time he went there he left the place downright melting after the handsome brunet winked at him. Around the sixth or seventh time Amy drew a heart next to his name on his cup; when Ethan walked into the apartment his roommate stared long and hard at the cup and then just turned around and left.Prompt: ethamyplier coffee shop AU





	Soft Spot

“He’s cute,” Mark muttered to Amy while she filled the order for the cute young man in question. “Name?”

“Ethan.” Amy turned back to her boyfriend with the worryingly strong coffee in hand, Ethan’s name scribbled onto the cup. She shot Mark a smile and he scoffed knowingly in response, before watching Amy sweetly wishing the guy a good day and handing him back his coffee.

It was _on_.

Amy and Mark had this – arguably bad – habit of starting somewhat of a competition whenever someone they found attractive dropped into their lives. Sort of a ‘who can charm them first?’ type of thing that Kathryn kept complaining about because it ended up affecting business. Sure, first things would go smoothly, the poor target would keep coming back (especially when Mark and Amy pulled out the big guns and started offering free drinks or pastries); then the reveal would happen. Most people just felt strange and deceived once they actually found that Mark and Amy were a couple to begin with, so they would stop coming by. So as soon as the blue haired boy left the shop, Kathryn marched over to the pair.

“Don’t even think about it.”

“Think about what?” It was honestly infuriating how innocent Amy could look when she put some effort into it. Mark was still looking out through the glass door at the mop of blue hair disappearing between the crowd. Kathryn felt defeated.

* * *

 

Ethan, on his part, was just confused. On the first day, he left the coffee shop a little dazed after the smile the pretty blonde flashed him. The next time he went there he left the place downright melting after the handsome brunet winked at him. Around the sixth or seventh time Amy drew a heart next to his name on his cup; when Ethan walked into the apartment his roommate stared long and hard at the cup and then just turned around and left.

Tyler, the roommate. The guy was tall and intimidating at first glance, honestly, but it wasn’t like Ethan had many choices when it came to picking a roommate. He was just moving to LA with less plans than he probably should have, desperate to find somewhere not too horribly expensive to sleep in. Just as fate would have it, Tyler’s old roommate had just moved out to sleep with his girlfriend, as Ethan would find out one night while the two were talking over Chinese take-out, getting to know each other for the sake of putting up with each other. He was a nice guy, and at least Ethan felt safer knowing he was living with a guy who could probably take down an intruder.

He talked about his friends a lot, too. Some stories almost sounded made up, but Ethan quite enjoyed hearing them. Tyler seemed less stone-faced and more relaxed when he talked about them, and it wasn’t rare that Ethan would find him chuckling and staring at his phone. In the few weeks they had been living together, Ethan came to find that Tyler was actually an incredibly positive and motivational person. Not that Ethan would say it out loud, but that was exactly the type of person Ethan needed to be around at the moment. He liked to think he had at least one friend in LA.

And then there were Mark and Amy. Well, it was hard to classify what they were. In the middle of all the surprising… Dare he say, _flirting?_ Well, aside from that, he’d talked to them quite a bit. Sometimes when he visited the coffee shop in the deadest hours and they had freedom to drag out the initial small talk, Ethan had gotten to know them a little better. Which, honestly, just made things worse. Being attractive was one thing, Ethan could get over that kind of infatuation pretty quickly, even with the winks, and smiles, and hearts on his cups. But did they have to be _nice_ , too? They were both interesting people with wonderful quirks, and every single syllable that came out of their mouth only serve to draw Ethan in even deeper.

* * *

 

“Are you two _still_ not over the guy?” Kathryn approached her two employees with her arms crossed, looking in the same direction as the both of them as Ethan (he was famous at the shop at this point) crossed the street. “It’s been, what, a month?” Silence followed as the two returned to work, which made Kathryn frown. “You gotta tell him.”

“I was under the impression that you’d want us to keep going. Y’know, since you keep reminding us that people never come back after we tell them,” Amy replied with a shrug, and suddenly felt two pairs of eyes burning into the back of her head. She sighed and turned to face Kathryn. “Look, we know we gotta tell him. It’s just… Hard.”

Mark softened a bit and leaned against the counter. “We got a soft spot for this one.”

“Don’t you always?”

 _Fair point_ , Mark thought. “It’s softer this time.”

“I mean, have you seen him?” A little glimmer returned to Amy’s eye. “Ethan just lingers, talking, asking about us, making jokes, being charming. And then he runs off because he _knows_ he wasn’t supposed to linger and he _knows_ he’ll be wait for work, but he still stays.”

“And then comes back at the end of the day,” Mark added and gestured towards the two dandelions sitting on the counter, definitely picked by Ethan from some nearby sidewalk. A token of appreciation for the free coffee that morning, he’d said. “It’s different, y’know? We both really like him, but if we tell him--- Well. It’s like you say, he may never come back.”

Kathryn let out a sigh, this time softer and less annoyed. “Tell Ethan. You’re leading him on and you know it. He has to know.”

Both Amy and Mark knew one absolute truth in life: Kathryn was seldom wrong.

* * *

The dandelions had been a stupid idea, hadn’t it? Ethan sank down on the couch upon getting home, knowing for a fact Tyler was in the kitchen cooking something, if the delicious smell was of any indication. Like a lovesick idiot, Ethan stared at the empty cup of coffee with the stupid inside joke scribbled on it (“Black coffee, no goo!”). Maybe Tyler would know what to do about this mess, the guy seemed to have an answer for everything. Come to think of it, he’d been the one to recommend that coffee shop to Ethan. Wait…

 _Good deducting, Ethan!_ Fuck, he was an idiot. Tyler always talked about _Mark this_ and _Amy that_ , but Ethan couldn’t get his brain to work well enough to put the pieces together. In his defense, both were pretty common names. Hell, Ethan’s own fucking middle name was Mark!

But--- Ethan frowned at the cup. Tyler’s Mark and Amy were a couple, right? Mark was the roommate who moved in with his girlfriend, Amy. _Now_ Ethan was confused.

“Hey, I hope you like---“ Tyler stopped mid-sentence when he saw how unusually quiet Ethan was. Observant as always, he took a quick glance at the cup in Ethan’s hand. Oh, this was about to get messy, wasn’t it? Did it _have_ to be his roommate? Tyler would actually kill Amy and Mark if Ethan wanted to move out. “…What’s up?”

“That’s what I’d like to know,” Ethan mumbled distractedly, his nail idly scraping at the logo in the cup.

“What do you mean?”

Ethan put the cup down on the coffee table and ran a hand through his hair. “Dunno.”

“Hey, come on, you’re not making any sense,” Tyler tried, stepping a bit closer. He wasn’t ready to see Ethan look downright brokenhearted when the guy finally faced him. “Ethan?”

“I mean, I know I’m stupid. I should have figured it out, y’know? You always talked about them, I should have known it was _them_.” Ethan took in a breath and put on a smile. “So really, it’s on me. I shouldn’t have--- Read into it, I guess.” He scoffed. “What a fucking joke. Bet you all had a few laughs.” Tyler probably knew about the fucking dandelions already.

Tyler paused, then sat down next to Ethan. “Talk to them.” Ethan was opening his mouth to argue, but Tyler carried on without giving him time to. “Just talk to them, okay? I mean, sure, you were a bit _slow_ at figuring it out, but…”

“Alright, shut up, let’s have dinner.”

“Talk to them, Ethan.”

Reluctantly, Ethan nodded. The dandelions weren’t mentioned during dinner. Before Ethan retreated to his bedroom, Tyler assured him no one was laughing about anything, but that he wasn’t the one who should have this talk with Ethan.

* * *

 

Mark had already been asleep the night before when Tyler called him, speaking in hushed tones and insisting that they needed to talk to Ethan. Needless to say, when morning came Mark was feeling incredibly discouraged. Him and Amy wondered whether Ethan would show up at all, considering the tone in Tyler’s voice (and the reminder that they were idiots and they better not cost him the only good roommate LA had to offer). They had tried to rehearse what to say over breakfast, though it never really worked out that great. When the usual time during which Ethan would usually come and get his morning coffee passed, they sort of lost hope.

Work was busy enough to distract them a little, though the occasional muttering of an inside joke they shared with Ethan made their hearts sink a little deeper. Amy kept mentally slapping herself for letting him get away without at least an explanation. Mark kept replaying the sound of Ethan’s laughter in his mind.

“Incoming. Code blue,” Kathryn muttered to them during the lunch rush, prompting Amy and Mark to perk up and stare at the door. Amy took a quick look at all the people in the shop and figured there was no way they could have a serious talk with Ethan and, thinking fast, she handed the order in her hand to Kathryn.

“I _swear_ I’ll be right back.” Before Kathryn could argue, Amy had already disappeared to the back room.

* * *

 

The whole time Ethan was in line he was considering just leaving. Part of him just wanted to never come here again, but something told him Tyler wouldn’t let him get away with it... And then he would force Ethan to talk to Mark and Amy outside of their workplace and things would be even more awkward. This way he could tell Tyler he _did_ see them, but the place was too busy for them to talk. Besides, it was a way to pretend like he wasn’t ~~devastated~~ affected by the fact that Amy and Mark had been messing with him for the last month and a half.

Perfect strategy.

Ethan was even more relieved when Kathryn was the one to take his order. Just one coffee and his mission here would be done. Amy was nowhere to be seen and Mark was too busy with other costumers. Good, things were going smoothly. _Suspiciously so_.

Amy suddenly returned from the back. She took a quick look at the name on the cup Kathryn was holding and took it from her hand to hand it to Ethan. She didn’t say more than a quick “Have a nice day!”, but along with his coffee she handed him a folded napkin. Ethan looked down at it, at the huge, red inked ‘Please read!’ written on it in Amy’s familiar handwriting. He considered his options; it wasn’t like Ethan was just going to toss the napkin away, anyway. Someone stood up and left the coffee shop, leaving an empty table behind. Ethan didn’t let himself second guess it before he took it.

_Sorry this is on a napkin, and sorry it’ll have to be short. While we’re doing apologies, sorry for not telling you sooner that Mark and I are dating. I’m not gonna waste napkin explaining too much, but you need to know that we both like and care about you a lot. We don’t want you to get the wrong idea. I know it’s… Unconventional, but there wasn’t anything we didn’t mean, I promise. I guess it’s up to you now._

_PS: Did I tell you yellow’s my favorite color? I love dandelions._

At the very bottom of the napkin Amy squeezed in her phone number. Ethan stared at it for a long time before he stood and left with his coffee in his hand and the napkin in his pocket.

* * *

 

‘No, you didn’t tell me your favorite color was yellow. I guess it makes sense you’d like such a happy color. What about Mark’s?’

Ethan hit send after staring at the message for a good three minutes. After a moment of waiting, he got Amy’s reply.

‘He likes red, but we both got a soft spot for blue.’

**Author's Note:**

> I'm a little out of it bc it's late but ah well! I'd love me some feedback, ma dudes! ♥


End file.
